Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II. The Eskimo language, its admirable organisation as to the construction and flexion of words - The written language, letters and signs
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
p like p in «poor», but also approaching to b.
(q see above.)
r merely as a palatal r.
(rng, merely differing from ng by making the antecedent
vowel deeper; ng can be used instead of it.)
(r’ like a deeply palatal German ch; a simple r may also
suffice.)
s like s in «so».
ss, called esh, like sh in «short», but something softer.
t like t in «ten», but also nearly like d.
u like oo in «proof»; before j almost like the german ü;
in South — and especially in East — Greenland like i.
v like v in «event», but produced with the lips alone,
without the aid of the teeth.
The letter h is only used in some interjections, and can
be wholly omitted.
In Diphthongs the second vowel is always pronounced softly,
f. i. ae mostly like â, ai like y in «why».
The accents are: ͟ ′ short and sharp, ͟~ long and sharp,
͟^ long and dull. Although their use is of great importance in
the system adopted for Greenland, I have, as already mentioned,
been obliged to leave out a great many of them in rendering
words from vocabularies in which they are so profusely and
indiscriminately applied in connection with the hyphens, that
copying them would have offered a hopeless labour.
If we compare this alphabet with that proposed by Powell
in his «Introduction to the study of Indian languages», it will
be found to agree tolerably well with it, of course when it is
considered that the latter comprises what will be required to
express the sounds occurring in all the American tongues.
The application of consonants is limited by strict rules.
A syllable cannot commence, and a word cannot end, with
two consonants. No word can begin with l, r, g, v, rng or
ng, nor end with any other consonants than the hard ones
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
